1. Field of the Invention
The invention is generally directed to fabrics that include agents that can control bleeding and contribute to faster wound healing.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many products and devices have been developed to control bleeding and yet there remains a significant unmet need for materials that can be applied to sites of hemorrhage to control bleeding. In 2007 the Center for Disease Control reported nearly 124,000 accidental deaths in the U.S. and uncontrolled bleeding is a major morbidity and mortality factor. After a traumatic injury, hemorrhage is responsible for over 35% of pre-hospital deaths and over 40% of deaths within the first 24 hours (Kauvar, D. S., Lefering, R., and Wade, C. E; J Trauma 2006).
The standard of care is frequently the application of a tourniquet to control “compressible” bleeding and then gauze to control the residual “noncompressible” bleeding. However, continued blood loss through gauze is a major contributor to morbidity and mortality.
The prior art is replete with patents directed to various forms of bandages. Several of these methods include articles such as bandages supplemented with substances that chemically accelerate the body's natural clotting processes. Examples of such articles include the following, all of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,328,259 to Anderson discloses a bandage or wound dressing that incorporates polymers such as sodium carboxymethyl cellulose, hydroxyethyl cellulose, polyoxyethylene, polyvinylpyrrolidone, etc.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,192,299 to Sabatano discloses a bandage that includes a packet containing an antiseptic substance.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,390,519 to Sawyer discloses a bandage in the form of a sponge and containing collagen or a collagen-like substance.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,453,939 to Zimmerman et al. discloses a composition useful as a wound dressing and made from a combination of collagen, fibrinogen and thrombin.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,606,337 to Zimmerman et al. discloses a resorptive sheet for closing and treating wounds, and composed of a glycoprotein matrix that contains fibrinogen and thrombin.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,616,644 to Saferstein et al. discloses an adhesive bandage that includes high molecular weight polyethylene oxide as a hemostatic agent.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,800,372 to Bell et al. discloses a dressing made from an absorbent polymer and includes microfibrillar collagen.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,902,608 to Read et al. discloses surgical aids such as bandages, gauzes, sutures, and the like, that contain fixed-dried blood cells that express platelet-derived growth factors.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,638,296 to Levinson discloses a bandage that includes a pad containing glucosamine or a glucosamine derivative.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,762,336 and International Patent Application Publication No. WO/99/59647 to MacPhee et al. discloses a multilayer bandage that includes a thrombin layer 5 sandwiched between two fibrinogen layers.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,897,348 to Malik discloses an adhesive bandage that contains an antimicrobial agent and a hemostatic agent (e.g., chitosan, niacinamide, or ascorbic acid), or a single wound-healing agent that contains both antimicrobial and hemostatic activities (e.g., chitosan niacinamide ascorbate salt).
U.S. Pat. No. 6,891,077 to Rothwell et al. discloses fibrinogen bandages that include a procoagulant such as propyl gallate, gallic acid, or a derivative thereof. Optional ingredients such as thrombin or an antimicrobial agent may also be included.
International Patent Application Publication No. WO 97/28823 to New Generation Medical Corporation discloses a hemostatic bandage that contains powdered fibrinogen and thrombin adhered to a fibrous matrix with a viscous, nonaqueous adhesive such as a viscous polysaccharide, glycol, or petroleum jelly.
Another hemostatic textile is disclosed in U.S. Patent Publication No. 2007/0160653 to Fischer et al.
Virtually all of the processes described previously to control bleeding rely on a chemical interaction between blood and blood elements to stimulate the formation of a not indigenous to the normal process of hemostasis. The presence of these chemicals may have unintentional or prolonged side effects as the body attempts to absorb them during the healing process.
Other hemostatic chemicals may contain animal-derived products that could cause an inflammatory or immune response. Examples of commonly used animal-derived products are thrombin, chitosan, collagen, and the like.
Also, many of the previously mentioned hemostatic chemicals cause a blood clot to form which contains unwanted chemicals that the surgeon would prefer to remove from the surgical site to either help visualize the underlying wound or to reduce interference with subsequent wound healing.
Ultimately, the preferred method of controlling bleeding would be a device which enhances the body's own clotting processes, thereby accelerating the blood clotting cascade, and does so without unnaturally interacting with the blood by chemical means or by leaving some chemical elements within the blood clot for the body to deal with during the healing process.
The invention is believed to be an answer to that need.